


Atychiphobia

by echolaliating



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-05 23:05:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5393573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echolaliating/pseuds/echolaliating
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Making music was hard, when everything you did was wrong, and you think that you might not have ever had the ability to create to begin with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Atychiphobia

It had been a long time since Napstablook had written any music. They once spent hours a day, thinking about songs they could make, just itching to finally go home after a long day of snail farming and start creating.

At some point, however, it all started to sound the same. The same beats, the same melodies, ad nauseum. There was something vital that was missing, but Napstablook could not find it. They would try, and make overwrought, complex songs that sounded artificial and melodramatic and sounded nothing like them at all. Every attempt came out wrong, and soon the anxiety over messing up once again became so overwhelming that even opening the editing software filled them with a deep sense of failure.

Their online profile described them as a musician, but they weren’t sure they even counted as one anymore. The fear suffocated all the creativity they once had. The occasional concept for a song passed their mind briefly but the thought of ruining it yet again kept them from developing it any further.

Almost as overwhelming as the fear however, was the guilt. Everyone expected them to make music. It was the only thing they had ever had to offer to anyone, and they didn’t even have that anymore. Napstablook just knew monsters were talking about them, talking about how disappointing they were. They had to try again.

And so, with the burning need to make something, anything, absolutely no ideas, and all the time in the world to critique and pick apart every single note, they opened Undacity.

This song would be their new debut into music creation. It needed to be powerful, and deep. Meaningful. But not pretentiously so. Show that they could be whimsical too. It had to be raw, unfiltered. Unpolished but in a purposeful way. Like they were a professional who chose to be simplistic. Like a world famous painter doodling in crayon.

But most importantly, it needed to distill their very soul, that anyone could listen to it and know exactly who Napstablook really was (without having to go through the trials of social interaction to get to know each other). But in a way that hid their worst flaws so that monsters wouldn't immediately hate them. Or perhaps it would be better to be open about what horrible garbage Napstablook was, so that their new friend wouldn't be disappointed when they realize what a terrible ungrateful friend Napstablook really was.

Eventually they made a little ditty of some kind, less than a minute long. They only had it posted online for about an hour before they deleted it.

They changed their profile description from musician to music enthusiast after that.

**Author's Note:**

> My process for writing this is almost completely identical to Napstablook's haha


End file.
